seldom errs
Who thinks the worse he can of womankind.'
Act iii.

'Honour, sole judge and umpire of itself.'
Act iv.

'Unknown I die; no tongue shall speak of me.
Some noble spirits, judging by themselves,
May yet conjecture what I might have proved,
And think life only wanting to my fame.'
Act v.

'An honest guardian, arbitrator just
Be thou; thy station deem a sacred trust.
With thy good sword maintain thy country's cause;
In every action venerate its laws:
The lie suborn'd if falsely urg'd to swear,
Though torture wait thee, torture firmly bear;
To forfeit honour, think the highest shame,
And life too dearly bought by loss of fame;
Nor to preserve it, with thy virtue give
That for which only man should wish to live.'

[_Satires_, viii. 79.]

For this and the other translations to which no signature is affixed, I
am indebted to the friend whose observations are mentioned in the notes,
pp. 78 and 399. BOSWELL. Sir Walter Scott says, 'probably Dr. Hugh
Blair.' I have little doubt that it was Malone. 'One of the best
criticks of our age,' Boswell calls this friend in the other two
passages. This was a compliment Boswell was likely to pay to Malone, to
whom he dedicated this book. Malone was a versifier. See Prior's
_Malone_, p. 463.

[971] I am sorry that I was unlucky in my quotation. But notwithstanding
the acuteness of Dr. Johnson's criticism, and the power of his ridicule,
_The Tragedy of Douglas_ sill continues to be generally and deservedly
admired. BOSWELL. Johnson's scorn was no doubt returned, for Dr. A.
Carlyle (_Auto._ p. 295) says of Home:--'as John all his life had a
thorough contempt for such as neglected his poetry, he treated all who
approved of his works with a partiality which more than approached to
flattery.' Carlyle tells (pp. 301-305) how Home started for London with
his tragedy in one pocket of his great coat and his clean shirt and
night-cap in the other, escorted on setting out by six or seven Merse
ministers. 'Garrick, after reading his play, returned it as totally
unfit for the stage.' It was brought out first in Edinburgh, and in the
year 1757 in Covent Garden, where it had great success. 'This tragedy,'
wrote Carlyle forty-five years later, 'still maintains its ground, has
been more frequently acted, and is more popular than any tragedy in the
English language.' _Ib._ p. 325. Hannah More re